Return to Me

Over the Thanksgiving break, I watched Return to Me. It is a romantic comedy starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovney wherein Minnie Driver had a heart transplant and things go awry when we discover that her heart is from David Duchovney's dead wife. Really intriguing with a great "meet cute" and nice tension. 

My one problem with this story is that the main tension (Minnie Driver's hesitancy to tell her beau that she's had a heart transplant) doesn't seem motivated. The whole time we know that Minnie Driver doesn't want to tell him about her heart so she keeps lying and wearing high-neck shirts to cover her scar and her secret. Seeing this from a screenwriting point of view, I didn't understand why it was such a big deal that she keep it a secret.

I would use this film in a classroom setting in order to open a discussion about the story structure and the tension. I think that people would disagree with my analysis, which would open great lines of communication regarding the subjectivity of everyone's viewing experience as well as allowing students to both express their opinions as well as learning from others regarding what makes a good story.

Twilight

After watching the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight, I feel compelled to discuss the music choices in the film. The music was extremely distracting and, at times, completely unnecessary. There were scenes that were supposed to have emotional impact and because the music was so blatant in communicating emotion, I was taken out of the story.

I would use this film as an example of music and the poor effect it had on the film as a whole. I would discuss music and talk about its strengths and weaknesses; times when it is helpful and times when it is hurtful. I would show an example from Twilight and describe why the music choices perhaps weren't the best.

I Am Legend

I Am Legend. I recently watched I Am Legend and was struck with the sound design. It was amazing. Every sound was perfectly calculated to help the audience understand the meaning/message. During moments of amplified tension, instead of having scary music, the ambient sounds grew in volume and it made me feel like the Will Smith character was trying to be aware of everything around him.
I would use this in a teaching setting by playing the video without the audio and analyzing it. Then I would play the audio without the video and analyze it. Then, in playing them together the students would come to a greater understanding of sound design.

Short Films By Pixar

I love the short films that Pixar shows before their features. It is impressive that in such a short amount of time, an audience in engaged and cares about the characters. Two that I enjoy in particular are "Lifted" and "For the Birds". Lifted is a great example of caring about a character and how it's done. We can easily identify what the main character wants and how the filmmakers get the audience to care as well. I would like to show these to students and have them identify how the filmmakers help you to connect to the characters and understand the story in such a short amount of time. This could be in a discussion about short films, character, or writing.

House

I really enjoy the show House. I watch it when it comes on weekly and I watch old seasons on DVD frequently. I believe that a great strength of the show is the characterization of house. He is so gripping because he is shown as brilliant, but amazingly flawed with personality issues, trust issues, relationship issues, addiction issues, friendship issues, etc. However, as an audience, we still cheer for him. I would like to examine how this is done in a classroom situation. I could pick a segment of an episode, show it to a class and ask them to identify what we are shown about House and how it makes us feel about him. I believe this would help us to understand how films help us to connect with their characters.

Dear Frankie

Dear Frankie is an Irish film from a few years ago. It is a beautiful portrayal of a single woman and her deaf son as a strange man enters their lives and shakes things up for them forever. One of my favorite moments in this film is when the mother and the stranger meet in the hall after their long day together. They stand in the doorway staring at each other for what seems like an eternity. The camera is completely static and the actors merely look into each others' eyes. There is no music and no dialogue. This creates a massive amount of anticipation and suspense. The viewer shifts uncomfortably in his seat, wanting the moment to end. At long last, they share a sweet kiss. This, for me, is an amazing example of "duration", a property found in some films to achieve a desired effect. The effect is different in each situation, but in this situation I believe that sense of anticipation is meant to reflect the anticipation that each character feels.
I would show this clip to a class and pay attention to the ways they react to the awkward silence and stillness. Then I would ask them what it did for them, as viewers, so see the situation portrayed that way. We could then discuss other ways duration affects the audience and what messages it can communicate.

Batman Poster

I recently bought a poster for the Dark Knight movie to hang in my bedroom. It is the one with the joker behind a frosted piece of glass with "Why so serious?" written in blood on it. I bought this poster because it portrayed the feeling of the film more accurately than other posters with Christian Bale on it, ex. However, sometimes at night it genuinely scares me. My roommate expressed her discomfort the poster caused her and said it may give her difficulty sleeping. I told her I'd take it down if that was the case. I haven't taken it down yet, but it definitely casts a shadow on the mood of my room and I may soon have to relocate it somewhere else. We'll see.